A Westlake Village-based spinal neurosurgeon has traveled twice to Haiti since it was hit with a magnitude 7 earthquake in January, focusing his volunteer efforts on a dilapidated orphanage in Port-au-Prince, the nation's capital.
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After returning from his first trip to the country, which he made just 12 days after the earthquake hit, Dr. Ian Armstrong asembled a group of local business owners with diverse skills to help repair the orphanage, which houses 130 children.
Although recovery is slow, Armstrong said Americans should not lose faith in the Haitian people.
"The country was in dire straits before the earthquake, but then it had a disaster on top of it. Yet the people are very resilient and amazingly warm, and they're joyful in spite of their circumstances," he said.
The father of three said one of the most touching moments of his first weeklong stay in Haiti was when a mother wandered into the New Life Children's Home near Port-au-Prince with her young son Caleb.
The boy had been trapped under the rubble and unconscious for several days. He had many abrasions and sustained a massive skull fracture, said Armstrong, who admitted the boy into a makeshift clinic at the orphanage for observation.
During the next few days the mother never left her son's bedside, Armstrong said.
"But what impressed me most is when we were about to leave Haiti this mother asked us if we could take Caleb with us. She was desperate for help and willing to let him go because she wanted him to do well medically," he said.
Upon his return to California, Armstrong stayed in contact with a nurse at the orphanage to check up on Caleb and other patients, and he vowed to help the orphanage for the long term.
"I came back attached to this orphanage. It was hard to leave, but I realized that I could work the phones and talk to people to garner more support," Armstrong said.
The New Life Children's Home was established in 1976 by Miriam Frederick of World Harvest Missions Outreach.
In addition to receiving housing, food and schooling, children who live at the compound receive spiritual guidance and learn life skills such as farming and fishing. Volunteers go on medical missions, taking supplies and caring for patients outside of the orphanage.
"While I could not grasp how to help the entire problem in Haiti, the orphanage allowed me to focus my desire to help," Armstrong said.
"(The orphanage) was, on a small scale, doing what we all want to do for the country and was doing it quite well for decades," he said. "So to come alongside them and help them rebuild and get back on their feet is the best thing to do."
Armstrong became acquainted with the orphanage on Jan. 24 when he and about 40 volunteers went on a relief mission to Haiti with the Transformational Development Agency, a Westlake Village nonprofit. The group included about 20 members of Calvary Community Church.
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SOURCE: The Acorn
